He walked like a snail, though.
So slow, we ended up having to move to him. And he smelled like... indoors. Like old rooms and ancient tombs.
"Brokkr. Long time no see, I suppose."
Eh?! Levi knows him?!
He turned his neck toward her slowly—painfully slowly—like a broken golem struggling to turn its head.
"Leviathan..." his voice scraped through the air like a boulder being dragged across a mountain slope. "I see thou likewise serveth HIM. Did thou know about the prophecy?"
"I heard rumors," she said, placing a hand on her hip. "I still believe they’re just that—rumors. I serve Master Raven by my own free will."
Me, stuck in the middle, just kept turning my eyes to whoever was speaking, like the clueless fool I was.
"What about Sindri?" she asked next.
"Sindri hath been taken by the other side of the struggle."
He really sounded old... well, he was old.
Ah. Levi is also old—probably older than Brokenness here... or whatever his name was.
"Enough about we," Brokenness grumbled. Then he reached into what looked like a pocket—or something like it—and brought out a box.
A shiny box! That could only mean one thing—treasure!
I did wonder how such a ridiculously large box had managed to fit into his pocket, but honestly, if he was about to hand me something valuable, I’d be more than happy to shut up and pretend physics didn’t exist.
He opened the box, and right on cue, that overly dramatic, cliché golden glow burst out like in the fantasy novels.
And from within the dazzling light... lay two items. Just two. Ordinary-looking, probably worthless objects. The kind of disappointing reveal that made you want to reverse time and get back your excitement.
Okay, that’s it. I’m asking.
"How did such a big box fit into his pocket?"
{That was a spatial storage ability unique mostly to Nor-dwarves. The fact that you didn’t know this is utterly humiliating for me, Master.}
Well, you could have mentioned that earlier, before I announced my ignorance to the entire world like some socially-stunted, back-alley goblin.
I could physically feel my soul dissolve into the void as Levi began explaining—out loud—the exact same thing Platform had just told me.
"I present this to thee," Brokenness declared, dropping to one knee with all the ceremony of a relic from the first creation. He took my hand gently, and continued, "The ring on Grace and dominion, Valdari. The One Who Rul-"
Alicia wasted no time. She snatched the ring before he could finish his sentence and forcefully shoved the strange, dark-golden, ominous, absolutely-not-something-I’d-ever-wear-in-my-sane-mind ring onto my middle finger.
"Take this, Ruby," she said sweetly, smiling like the antagonist in a goth skirt. "As an expression of my love for you. One day, I’ll put the wedding ring on, too."
Wait—so this was an engagement?!
As expected, when I instinctively tried to yank the ring off, it refused to budge. At all. Not even a wiggle.
"Uhm, Sir Brokenness..." I called out, already panicking.
"It’s Brokkr, Master Raven," Levi corrected me in that helpful-but-not-really tone.
I didn’t care what his name was. All I knew was that this exact man, or dwarf, or whatever—had just sentenced me to eternal fashion doom with this cursed piece of jewelry.
And what were these markings on the ring? Those unreadable squiggles—was that... Heavenly script?!
"I fear I can no longer take the ring out," Brokkr said, shaking his head gravely, as though he were announcing my execution.
"Well then," he continued, completely unfazed, "to the next equipment."
Next equipment, my foot!
I refused. I outright rejected whatever else he was planning to unload on me, and yes—this was me standing my ground! My resolve was ironclad!
...But then he started trying to sweet-talk me. As if I was some clueless, pampered idiot with zero experience in the real world.
He had another thing coming.
"Thy form is most magnificent, thy power exceedeth even that of the gods themselves. Thou art destined for greatness, regardless of where thou may flee. A dragon can never reduce itself to a mere worm. Oh, Dark Fenrir, one of the divine wolf species, will you not accept this humble token of my eternal service to thee?"
"...Hmph! I-I suppose you really want to give me a present," I muttered, turning my face to the side, refusing to look at him directly. I stretched my arm out toward him stiffly. "Not because you’re praising me or anything, but just so you won’t start whining later that I ignored you—I’ll accept your offerin—"
"This is irreversible, I must warn you," Brokenness murmured under his breath.
"What?" I snapped my head around to him.
"Nothing worth noting," he replied with a casual shrug, as if he hadn’t just mumbled something suspiciously critical.
Then, without warning, he placed a dark, pulsing orb into my open palm—and the damn thing sank straight into my body.
I could feel it passing through my skin, seeping through my insides like quicksilver. The sensation was strange but not painful. Just... intrusive.
(Platform, get it out of me!! Now!!)
{That would be unnecessary. The material that has just entered is not hostile to Master’s existence.}
Traitor!! Useless, scheming, heartless traitor!!
Fine, it didn’t hurt. It wasn’t actually doing anything painful. But still!!
"Now, my Lord," Brokenness said with a low bow, "please attempt to manifest your Black Lightning Sword."
"Huh? Alright, then..."
Wait—hold on. How in the world did this ancient freak know about my ability? Who told him about my sword? What gave him that kind of access?
Still, I summoned the Black Lightning Sword like he asked. Only this time, as the weapon formed, I noticed something strange.
The blade had changed. Crimson inscriptions now ran down its length—glowing, ominous, and eerily similar to the markings on the cursed ring Alicia had forced onto my finger earlier.
But what exactly did that change?
I glanced up at the sky, raised the sword high, and swung it.
Oh no. Goodness me... I had just landed one hell of a move.
The shockwave that exploded out from the strike was so powerful it knocked several dwarves off their feet and sent them tumbling across the ground. And the sky?